Honoka
by DreamOfStories
Summary: Something went wrong on a mission, and now Shikako has been reborn again. Its different this time though. It doesn't feel as right. (Eventual Happy Ending!)
1. My Father

A/N: Part One of Six planned. Writing experiment testing different PoVs telling the same story. Each part is a different PoV with more of the story is revealed as you go along.

Or in other words... I'm a cruel cruel person who is going to tell you the whole story, but only let you find out the end of the story at, you know, the end.

-/-

Iemitsu beamed as he cuddled his precious son, his daughter still lying in his beloved wife's arms. The girl was whimpering, trying to curl inwards to Nana as she did her best to sooth her, a shock of dark brown hair poking out the blankets. The elder of the two, her brother, was blinking up at him in wonder, his eyes wide and unseeing. That would change as they grew older. He could already picture how they would grow... A strong, son with a gift for leadership and a beautiful daughter, soft and warm like their mother... And both of them Skies of course - drawing in strong and loyal friends.

His children would both be amazing.

-/-

Tsuna was as expected. He was a happy child, and a friendly one. A strong and pure Sky, that had little trouble making friends. He was a good boy, and all that Iemitsu could want in a son. Tsuna - his perfect little tuna-fish.

Honoka... was different. He had been so sure she was a Sky. Those first few weeks, while his Tuna-fish was (while they both were) too young to show signs of their future flames, he had been certain that there were once sparks of orange in her dark eyes so similar to his own. He had once had dreams of his youngest marrying Frederico, reuniting the separated branches of their Family. Only, it now seemed that she didn't in fact have a Sky flame, and so that wasn't a possibility any more. In fact, he wasn't sure she had a particular flame at all. Her potential seemed to flicker between the 6 more common types, never showing up in any strength and leaving her completely overshadowed by her brighter, stronger brother.

"Honoka! Play with me!"

Iemitsu frowned as his Honoka half heartedly threw the ball back and forth for a bit, wishing she had some more zest. Only then his precious little Tuna-fish, so pleased that Honoka was playing with him, threw it a little bit too hard and it went flying into a tree. He pouted up at it, the expression so cute on his face that Iemitsu had to suppress the urge to let out an un-manly squeal. His Tuna-fish was so cute!

Behind him, Nono laughed at something Nana said and Iemitsu turned to join in the discussion. He shouldn't be focusing on his boy - he had spent enough time thinking about his wonderful son already! - but on discussing plans for his family's upkeep with Nono and Nana.

He was taken completely by surprise at the huge inferno of Sky flames bursting out of nowhere in the garden behind him.

-/-

He loved his children, and he loved his wife. It didn't matter that one was apparently a near-null flame inactive and the other was a clumsy, hapless, terrible student of a boy. His wife was warm and welcoming, and for all that she hadn't activated her flames, she was still a Sky and his beloved. He loved her and her comfort and beauty and care. His son would recover and grow into his own if he ever had need - the effects of a flame seal may not be all that well known but some clumsiness was to be expected. Really, it was for the best. His little Tuna-fish was so young... And even with the seal he was still a cheerful little boy who loved his father so everything was fine. His daughter... His daughter was at least intelligent. She got high scores on all her school tests without seemingly needing to try. He could ignore her listlessness and admittedly dull personality in favour of that. She could still find a good match.

Yes, for all their faults, Iemitsu loved his family.

-/-

Enrico died, then Massimo, then Frederico. Iemitsu didn't know if to curse the Gods or praise them for this twist of fate. On one hand, he had liked Frederico and Massimo. He hadn't been as friendly with Enrico, but... He still grieved like the rest of the family. On the other, there was now only one legitimate heir of the Vongola left. Only one Sky still living with Vongola blood that wasn't already tied to the CDEF.

His little Tuna-fish was going to be the Tenth boss of the Vongola.

(He didn't think about his daughter, save that this would mean better protection for her and her mother. It was the men's duty and privilege to protect the women after all.)

-/-

The first time Iemitsu knew that something was wrong, terribly terribly wrong, was when Reborn's first report came back. Tsunayoshi was doing better than either he or Nono had hoped. The Smoking Bomb had been accepted as his right hand and storm guardian, and with Reborn forcing Tsunayoshi to push past his seal, other viable guardian candidates were quickly being drawn in.

No, Tsuna was fine. The concern was with his daughter. His daughter who was not in fact a weak, multi-flame inactive, but a Sky - a broken, shattered active one. In Reborn's expert opinion, and the opinion of Trident Shamal, she was broken so thoroughly she was lucky to have even the semblance of sanity left. Only the incredible strength of her flame and her incredible will was allowing her to function at all! It was as if each shattered remnant was enough individually to keep her going on its own! Had she been any weaker, had she not had flames that could rival both Tsuna's and the current Sky Arcobaleno's... She wouldn't even have that. She'd have shattered.

Iemitsu's hands slipped and he glanced down, his flames having burned through his desk.

Something had happened that had ruined his daughter, that had destroyed her immense potential. No. Not something. Someone. In the time between leaving the twins when they were a few weeks old and their fifth birthday someone must have gotten to her.

Iemitsu stalked out of the room, his flames crackling around him. He cared little for the Varia, but for something like this, something that his own people had missed...

Perhaps they would be more effective.

They would certainly ensure the perpetrators received a suitable punishment.

-/-

Honoka was gone.

 _Honoka was gone._

Iemitsu was near frantic, and from the reports, his son and his guardians were the same. For all Honoka's faults and flaws and disinterest, she was still Family, more she was _family._ She... She... Someone had taken her. Someone had attacked his family and no one could find any leads. No one had seen anything, and despite the investigations of Vongola's best flame trackers, there was no trace of the mist flames that must have been used to smuggle her away. There was no trail.

Once again, he had failed his daughter. The first time when he had missed the attack from whoever had hurt her so badly her flame shattered, and now this.

As soon as she was found, he was stepping down as Head of CDEF. He would dedicate his time to protecting his family in person. Clearly he was no longer fit for his position.

But first... He would see the ones that had taken his daughter die a slow and painful death.

-/-

Honoka hadn't been kidnapped.

She had run on her own, escaping out from under Reborn's watchful eye, away from her brother's overarching Sky and the shelter he offered. She had hidden so thoroughly, that Viper had been unable to find her. Had somehow done it so that she could do something that had the Arcobaleno Sky panicking.

He swallowed, his heart aching at the outpouring of storm flames that were surging and tearing everything in reach. Conello and Lal were trying to calm her, and both Aria and his Tuna-fish were reaching out for her - Aria with her flames, Tsuna trying to force his way through the storm physically, his flaring brightly around him. Fon would be here soon and he would help too. He... Her father. He was doing nothing.

Iemitsu _could_ do nothing.

A parent always knows their children better than anyone else, he thought. They might ignore what their instincts tell them, but if they listen...

Iemitsu was listening now.

Perhaps for the first time in his life, Iemitsu was truly listening.

His daughter wouldn't stop. Wouldn't let herself stop. Would burn the world if she had to, to achieve her desire.

And if it stopped her pain...

Iemitsu would let her.


	2. My Brother

A/N: Part Two of Six planned. Writing experiment testing different PoVs telling the same story. Each part is a different PoV with more of the story is revealed as you go along.

Or in other words... I'm a cruel cruel person who is going to tell you the whole story, but only let you find out the end of the story at, you know, the end.

 **Questions** : Happy Ending? Yes, there will be a happy ending. I promise. Possibly around part 6.

-/-

Tsuna loved his sister. She might not love him back the same, but she did care for him. She didn't play with anyone else after all. She barely acknowledged Mother or Father. And in return everyone... well most of the time, it was as if she wasn't even there. She just... existed. Other people barely noticed her.

It made him feel both incredibly sad and incredibly special. As broken and sad as Honoka was, at least she always recognised him. The two of them just sort of clicked. They understood each other like twins were supposed to do. It was awesome!

-/-

Honoka was... trying to comfort him? He leaned into her arms, accepting her comfort... only for her to flinch back in surprise. Tsuna whimpered. Had he read her wrong? He never read her wrong! She was his sister, his twin, no one knew her better than he did!

"Tsuna..."

She was speaking, her words coming as if from deep underwater and there was an off look in her eyes that he didn't recognise, didn't know, didn't understand. Tsuna felt his eyes well up with tears.

He didn't understand.

He _didn't understand._

What had happened to him? What had his Papa and the Old Man done? Why couldn't he read his twin anymore?

"Tsuna... You're different."

The words were puzzled, contemplative, and he didn't recognise the look in his sister's eyes. He didn't recognise her expression or the tone of her voice...

It was like she was suddenly a stranger, although he might have understood a stranger better. He pulled away, eyes frantically scanning her face, looking for anything that would indicate that it was still ok, that they were ok. Some sign, that he still knew his sister.

He couldn't find one.

He couldn't understand his sister.

-/-

Honoka didn't really talk to him anymore. She would speak to him about small things and she noticed more than Mama did. She had shown him where the bruise cream was kept and helped him when Mama sent him to get things from the shops but... She didn't really associate with him outside the house and she didn't talk to him about important things any more. Things like how she was feeling, what she thought of school... She didn't talk about it, and he just couldn't guess. Instead her attention was on her school work - on her studying and learning. She kept practising her handwriting until it was perfect and then tracing out pretty patterns in black ink she prepared herself in the traditional way and hoarded like a dragon in a decorated lockbox under her bed.

That and her books were the only things that mattered to her.

It was a good thing Tsuna told himself, that the attention the rest of the school heaped on him missed her completely. She was part of the calligraphy club and the ikebana club, and she got good grades... But apart from that she might not have even gone to school.

Neither the teachers nor Hibari paid her any more attention than the minimum required. They seemed to accept she was in class even when she wasn't and they ignored her otherwise. It was an incredibly useful trick and Tsuna wished many times that he could copy it. Mostly when the bullies cornered him again after school and kept yelling at him...

If he could disappear like Honoka did then maybe things would be better...

-/-

Tsuna blinked at the tiny baby in front of him, feeling very inclined to laugh. The tiny baby was wearing a sharp suit, had a hat with an orange band around it and for some reason was claiming to be the tutor Mama had called for him. It was ridiculous. He'd only agreed because he wanted to keep up with Honoka better - a baby couldn't help him with that. What would a baby kno-

"Ow!"

"Dame-Tsuna. Pay attention."

Tsuna scowled at the baby, his eyes flickering up the stairs to where his sister was watching them, her eyes narrowed slightly. Tsuna shifted, nervous suddenly. He hadn't seen Honoka this focused on anything... ever. It made him feel... He wasn't sure. Nervous? Excited? Curious? There was a bubbling in his tummy and his skin was tingling...

"Why are you here?"

Honoka had said something? Honoka had talked to someone when _she didn't have to?_ Honoka was _showing_ _interest_?!

Tsuna frowned, if he hadn't been convinced there was something weird about this baby before, then he was definitely convinced now. Honoka didn't pay more attention than needed to anyone. She barely paid any attention to him and he was pretty sure he was her favourite person!

So why was she interested in his tutor of all the creepy people?

-/-

Tsuna was exhausted. He had never been so tired in his life. When Honoka's voice and that of his tutor woke him up, he barely had the capacity to recognise them, let alone understand what they were saying. Even then, it was just Honoka and Reborn. It was fine.

He quickly drifted back to sleep.

-/-

Tsuna scowled. He didn't like this. After all the effort to get the perverted doctor to look at him, he had thought the guy would be eager to go. Only no, the man had immediately latched onto his sister! She wasn't Mafia like Gokura's sister. She was... She was his sister! A civilian! And this... This man was... with his fluttery hands!

"Settle down Dame-Tsuna."

He shot a scowl at Reborn. "But!"

"Shamal is a good doctor. It's just a checkup."

Tsuna frowned. Shamal was looking a bit more serious now, no longer looking as fluttery and fun. He was almost, dare he say it, professional. Reborn had shifted too, only a tiny bit. Tsuna had noticed though and it was putting him more on edge. Something was wrong. Something was very very wrong.

"Dame-Tsuna, you are late for school."

He almost opened his mouth to object, because _this was his sister._

"Hibari looked distinctly annoyed this morning. This is a good training opportunity-"

"HIIIEEEEEEE!"

-/-

Tsuna had been feeling wrong all day. Not bad, not like he was ill, but... twitchy. Reborn had seemed to pick up on this and was hovering around. He kept jumping from Tsuna's head to the fence, to the street and Leon was clinging to his Tutor's shoulder, eyes flickering around. The others, his future guardians, were picking up on it too.

"Tenth? What's wrong?"

"I don't know..." He trailed off. "Let's go back."

That thought was right. That was where he had to be. He needed to be back at the house with Mama and... Intuition sparked.

"Honoka!"

-/-

Honoka was hurting. He could feel it, her pain and desperation. It was like when they were younger - when he could look at her and know exactly how she felt. Orange flames burned around him, lending him strength and honing his focus.

There were no kidnappers.

No enemies.

Just tiny black ink shapes scribbled over the floor flickering sunny yellow and rainy blue. Stormy red crackling around and expanding and growing clawing at everyone and everything. And there in the centre, flickering with green and purple flames and barely visible under an overarching pale shimmer, was _his sister_ who was _in pain_. Her _flames were hurting her._

He was a Sky wasn't he? It was his job, his duty, to gather the other flames and sooth them into harmony. Wasn't that what Renorn had been telling him? Wasn't that why Hayato, Hibari, Ryohei, Takeshi, Mukuro, Chrome and Lambo had gathered around him? Wasn't that why his sister trained alongside them when she had barely shown interest in anything before?

What good was he as a Sky if he couldn't help his own sister?

" **Reborn! Save Honoka with my Dying Will!"**


	3. My Tutor

A/N: Part Three of Six planned. Writing experiment testing different PoVs telling the same story. Each part is a different PoV with more of the story is revealed as you go along.

Or in other words... I'm a cruel cruel person who is going to tell you the whole story, but only let you find out the end of the story at, you know, the end.

 **Questions** : Why's she broken? She wasn't reborn properly so she still feels all the bonds of her past life with none of the peaceful in between to come to terms with things. Lack of close ties to any of her new home's natives does not help with this.

-/-

Reborn was the World's Greatest Hitman. It wasn't an arrogant boast. Sure, he was still human, still had the potential to slip up and fail, but he was the _World's Greatest Hitman_ and everyone knew it. That came with both drawbacks and benefits. Drawbacks - anyone trying to make a name for themselves wouldn't hesitate to taking a shot at him. Benefits - there was always work for him - work he could pick and choose - and not just in assassinations.

Take his last assignment. He had turned around the Cavallone's fortunes with his training of their heir. It had been a change of pace, not something he had done on that scale before, and certainly not something he'd ever done full time with a _Sky_. That had been a big learning curve. Knowing that a Sky needs careful handling lest they do themselves damage is one thing. In practice, luring them to connect and harmonise with their guardians successfully is... Well it's like leading a horse to water. Skies are stubborn, and there are so so many ways they can break or twist or shatter.

It had been difficult, requiring subtly, diplomacy and a strong hand - but well within his capabilities. In fact, he'd enjoyed the challenge and wouldn't mind trying it again.

So it wasn't a surprise when shortly after the Death of Nono's last surviving son, a message reached him on the other side of the world.

The Cavallone were the Vongola's allies after all.

-/-

Reborn hadn't paid much attention to the girl - well not more than he paid to any of the people that surrounded young Tsunayoshi. In other words, he had read her file, read Iemitsu's rather sparse description of her and spent a couple of hours observing her in both her private time and her interaction with people. She wasn't his student, she wasn't overly close to her brother and she was unlikely to pay any more attention to his activities than Nana would.

 _Only she did._

It left Reborn with a dilemma. The girl was incredibly smart, if not as dedicated to her studies as he would personally like. She was very intuitive, when she chose to be, and was a lot more astute than her brother when it came to identifying people's flaws. Her ability to see through people's dissembling and parse through the rubbish they spouted to identify the truth of the matter... She would have made a perfect advisor - and perhaps eventually head of the CDEF - if she could only be convinced to care. Really if Iemitsu and Tsuna weren't both so set on keeping her out of the Vongola he would have manipulated Tsuna into accepting her into his Family already.

Even so...

Perhaps...

-/-

Reborn watched the girl, hat pulled down to shadow his eyes as she ghosted silently into the room. For all intents and purposes he appeared completely asleep. She moved silently with ease, a grace in her movements that made him frown internally. Honoka was a civilian through and through. She had never shown much inclination to sports or exercise and she had never taken dance. Other than those there was no reason for a civilian to be able to move like she did.

She stopped a few steps inside the doorway, letting him remain between his charge and herself. He wondered absently if that was intentional.

"You're awake."

Her voice was soft and quiet and... dull. There was something off about it. He didn't narrow his eyes. "Yes."

She glanced at her brother and settled on his desk chair, her focus shifting entirely to him. Reborn shifted into a less slumped position, his hand sliding down to pet Leon. She blinked and raised a hand, yellow sun flames flickering to life in her palm. Her control was impressive. The tension in the room wracked up a notch. Leon's tail curled around his wrist.

"You have these too. What are they?"

A smirk slipped onto Reborn's lips, "And why should I telł you?"

"You're teaching my brother."

"Hmm, is he your brother?"

Tsuna shifted in his bed, his brow furrowed as the tension in the mood took a heavy step towards something ugly. She frowned at him, her eyes flickering to his charge before she shrugged. "Yes."

Just yes. Nothing in her own defence, nothing about how of course he was her brother and she loved him and all the usual bluster. He eyed her thoughtfully, reassured enough to give her request serious consideration.

If young Miss Sawada really was just discovering her flames then he had a duty to at least teach her the basics or find someone who could. Tsuna was his primary focus of course, and the discovery was unanticipated enough he should investigate her (flames required will, she'd never shown a sign of the needed force of personality in her life) but... If everything was above board...

"They're called sun flames Honoka-chan. Would you like to learn how to use them?"

-/-

Honoka was sitting quietly in a chair, eyes fixed on the faint glow of pale flames flickering around Shamal's hands. Reborn could see them too of course, but then he was a highly experienced flame user that had been part of the Mafia world for over 50 years. Seeing flames, or developing the awareness to be able to fake seeing them, was a more advanced skill than just feeling them. It was the difference between being able to hear a sound and knowing that the sound originated twenty feet behind you, 18 degrees to the left of your vision.

Leon silently shifted into gun form in his hand.

Reborn was now 90% sure that Honoka was not who she claimed she was, or that at a minimum the information he had on her was seriously flawed. There was too much that didn't add up, too many skills there was no explanation for. But to kill the apparent sister of the future Tenth on mere conjecture? Tsunayoshi would never forgive him. Nono and the idiot Iemitsu would not either. Hence Shamal. If there was something up, the medically trained mist would find it. And then Reborn would take appropriate action.

Ah, Tsunayoshi had finished his work and had stomped through and was blabbering about something. Reborn sent him off to school with a couple of seemingly casual phrases, absently dispatched a beetle to monitor him, and focused back on Shamal. The Doctor looked grim and vaguely sick... his hands almost gentle as he took a phial of blood for testing later. Hmm... that was unusual...

"Reborn... She's a Sky, a Vongola one."

Reborn blinked. Well, not likely to be an actual imposter then. Also, he'd seen her sun flames. "Explain."

Shamal shot a torn look at the girl still watching them quietly, her face blank. "She's shattered Reborn. If her flames weren't so strong originally, there wouldn't... It would be..."

He trailed off looking grim and Reborn brought Leon up to his chest and stroked the small creature's head. This... This changed things. And increased his work load, but that wasn't a surprise as such. Certainly, he'd have to get to the bottom of this, of what had shattered a Sky so young that she had never fully manifested her sky flames and then find some way to help Honoka stabilise herself... The latter would have to be a priority actually, it wouldn't do for Tsuna to try to stabilise her by instinct and shatter himself in the process...

He would almost have preferred that she was an imposter.

-/-

Now that he was looking for it, Honoka used mist flames a lot. Shamal's full report indicated that she used it for some form of physical conditioning, permanently twisting her physique, and he'd noticed himself how she used them at school. Not that it didn't cause more questions but he _recognised_ her preferred method. It was a particularly subtle variant he had first come across in Saudi Arabia and involved microscopic invisible little puffs of mist flame settling in her victims' eyes or ears.

It provided... options. Tsuna didn't have a mist guardian yet and he wasn't impressed by any of the local prospects.

He'd see how well they responded to each other when she was nudged into a subordinate role later. He wasn't convinced it would work. Iemitsu the Idiot thought it might and Reborn could agree that it would be a tidy solution. The stubbornness of Skies though...

He'd test it after she got back from meeting the Varia. Oregano would be escorting her back in... Hm... Another day. Maybe he would have Tsuna climb a waterfall while they were waiting?

-/-

Honoka would not make a good mist guardian, Reborn concluded in his report to Iemitsu. The entire thing was barely 200 words long.

-/-

Honoka was missing. Shattered or not, she was the twin sister of the future Decimo of the Vongola and a powerful if broken sky in her own right. Until Tsuna grew up enough to have kids, she was also the next in line to leadership of the Vongola Famiglia, and her children after her. When there were three boys between her and her twin and the position of Decimo it wasn't an issue. That was no longer the case.

Reborn clenched his jaw as yet another contact failed to find anything.

The phone rang again.

"Ciaosso."

Aria's panicked voice, a spill of words about Storm flames and tears in the fabric of the world and that they needed to be stopped right now flooded into his ears. Reborn cursed internally, it was one thing after another. "Who? Where?"

"Honoka. It's... It's Honoka, Reborn. At the Sky Temple in Nara."

Reborn ended the call. He'd meet the others there.

"You know where Honoka is." Reborn turned slightly so that he could see Tsunayoshi out of the corner of his eye. The young man's eyes were burning orange, his guardians bunched up behind him. "We're coming with you."

It was not a question.

Reborn's lips twitched downwards but he nodded sharply. "We leave now."


	4. My Teacher

A/N: This chapter I'm not as sure of with the characterisation. Tbh, it feels a little rushed. Thoughts?

No questions I'm willing to answer this time. ;)

-/-

His eyes blinked open, a frown growing on his face. Something was wrong.

Pulling on his green haori quickly, Kawahira wondered out into the street. The disturbance was incredibly faint, he highly doubted that anyone except perhaps Sepira would have detected it. With her gone... He pushed that thought away. Whatever this disturbance was it needed investigating, and if necessary dealing with. He'd guarded this world too long for some _interloper_ from another plane to come and cause havoc.

-/-

It took him a while to track down the disturbance. The presence was indistinct and flickered in an odd way that he wasn't familiar with. It was like the energy was half native and half foreign. When he did locate the source, he wasn't expecting to see a six year old struggling to light her hands on fire. The flames sputtered and spurted, different colours flaring and dying as she concentrated.

He leaned against a tree and crossed his arms, weaving a light illusion around himself. He would confront it after it had succeeded in exhausting itself..

-/-

He had needed to interfere twice to divert the human woman that was convinced she was the Alien's mother, but after a good hour it was left panting and drained. He waited a few minutes longer to see if it would continue its practice before dropping the illusion and striding forward, it was time to get some answers.

It looked up at him as he jumped the garden fence, its expression more confused than worried. If he had still doubted that it was the source of the disturbance that would have put things to rest. A young child should have been terrified to see someone breaking into their home like that.

"Hello." It said, watching him with more curiosity than anything now.

He tilted his head, eyes sharp. "Hello. And what might you be then?" It looked taken aback briefly before turning towards the house, mouth open to shout something. "Don't bother."

"What did you do?" It was quick on the uptake, whatever it was... And protective of the people in the house. Interesting.

"A small illusion. They'll spend the next few hours watching something incredibly interesting on the TV." He smiled at it, sharply, with more teeth than humans would consider friendly. "Now my question. What are you?"

"I'm a girl." It stated with a straight face. "What are you?"

He chuckled, suddenly incredibly amused. "I'm one of the Protectors of this world, little Alien. And you don't belong here." He paused to take in the growing look of understanding on her face. "Now, tell me what you are before I wipe you out of existence."

It hesitated again, casting an uncertain look back towards the house. "You haven't hurt them?"

He blinked and shrugged lightly. "No. Your human puppets are unharmed."

It scowled at him, tiny fists clenching at its sides. "They're not my puppets. They're my family." Then then the air seemed to go out of her. "You said you were a Protector of this World... That you can tell I don't belong. Can you help me get back to where I'm supposed to be?"

He hesitated. "Perhaps. Tell me your story first. Then I'll decide what we're going to do."

Biting its lip, it hesitated before moving over to a tree. He followed, settling down cross-legged opposite her. "Alright. It's a long story though."

He snorted. "The best ones always are."

-/-

Over the years Kawahira had collected a great deal of books and records on the more obscure aspects of history. That, and what remained of his own people's records meant that there was very little he had nothing on in his huge collection of resources. Looking into the displaced woman's situation proved a new test of his collection, with only two sources that had some relevance. One was a thin diary he had inherited from his parents. The other was a treatise written back before his people's fall, and discovered in a forgotten tomb by a disreputable young man a few thousand years ago.

Both were precious to him and it was with great reluctance that he shared them with the Alien. Unfortunately the theory was complex and the style wasn't anything he was familiar with, it had much more in common with the patterns she drew in her idle moments.

...At least she treated them with appropriate respect.

"These don't say how I can get home."

Kawahira shrugged. "But they do indicate it is possible, which is more than you had previously."

She nodded slowly, biting her lip as she reread the associated pages. "I don't quite understand the science behind it. Even if I could, to create a seal of that size..."

He hummed in agreement. "You'd need somewhere of significance. And access to multiple flame attributes. It's a good thing you were born a Sky."

"Attributes... That's the different colours?"

He glanced at her sideways. "Yes... What do you know about flames? You were practicing with them when I found you..."

She blushed. Blushed! The little self-assure little ninja-woman!

"You don't know anything do you?"

"...no."

He sighed. "Well, I can't really leave you to be taught by one of the humans. Who knows what mischief you would get into Sky that you are." He fixed her with a firm look. "It's late, come back tomorrow. And from now on, until it's time for you to go home, you can call me Kawahira-sensei."

-/-

Mist wasn't an attribute she'd ever excel in. She could do a number of small things, but the larger battle-changing illusions were outside her grasp. There was always a flaw to them, something minor that alerted the victim to what was wrong. They worked on it until it was sufficient for her to slip out to him as she pleased and then moved on.

Learning the basics of how to apply the other flames went a little better. Not much, but then former ninja or not, if she'd shown too much of an aptitude for flame-based combat he would have been concerned. He was, after all, only doing this so he could keep an eye on her.

Mostly he was thankful she found the individual attributes too useful to try merging her flames properly. That and her irritation with Sky Attraction. He should probably point out how unhealthy a habit it was to keep her flames so divided... But meh. He didn't care that much. Not when it helped her stay below the radar of so many different powers.

-/-

"Kawahira-sensei?"

"Hm?"

"Why is the Greatest Hitman in the World living under one of your curses?"

Kawahira sighed. Of course she would notice. "Don't meddle with this Honoka-chan. I will not tolerate it."

She was silent for a second before shrugging. "So long as he's not a threat to the Sawadas." She pulled a notebook saturated with mist flames from her bag. "I have a new design for you to look over. I'm not certain it's finished, but I won't be able to get back for a bit."

"Oh?" He asked taking the notebook and dispelling the protective illusions in one movement. There was some resistance this time though. He'd have to look at what changes she'd made to the illusion seal when she was gone.

"Reborn is going to teach me to use my Sun flames. I figured it's time I got an official teacher. One that doesn't double as my Parole Officer."

Kawahira ignored the faint sarcasm in her words. They were truer than either of them particularly liked. Instead he sighed, and gave her his full attention. "Have fun and remember-"

"Don't mention you. I know."

She waved a farewell and left his shop, letting the door close gently behind her. He hoped she'd come up with a better base design this time. He'd come to know his new charge quite well over the years and if she was still around when it came time to change over the pacifier holders...

-/-

"It's going to be at the Sky Temple, in Nara. And this is the seal I'm going to use."

Kawahira had noted her entrance of course, but he'd been slightly distracted with composing a message for Wonomichi. The current pacifier holders were beginning to weaken too much under the curse. Much longer and the traditional battles might need... tweaking.

"Did you fix the propagation issue with the wormholes?"

She scowled. "Yes. How did you even know there would be one anyway?"

"Experience." He answered flatly, remembering Bermuda's early experiments with the Flames of Night. Things would have been so much easier if he'd done something about the ex-storm back then. Of more immediate concern... "Nara for your old family and Sky for your current one?"

She nodded, flipping to the right page in her notes and shoving it towards him, her expression excited. "I've checked it a hundred times. It will work. I know it will."

Kawahira grimaced. He really didn't have time to go over everything she'd done. Wonomichi had concerns that needed to be soothed, the Arcobaleno needed to be lured into place... And Honoka needed to leave. Having to kill her now after investing all this time in helping her figure out how to get home...? But she would never tolerate leaving young Tsunayoshi behind to possibly become the new Sky Arcobaleno.

"I'll look over it. When are you wanting to do this?"

"Next Monday. It has to be."

He hummed in thought. Next Monday was doable. "I presume you will need my help to ensure the Vongola do not interfere... How long will you need to set up?"

"Four days. I'll need the seal to be perfect before I can begin."

On that, they could both agree.

-/-


	5. My Twin

A/N: Part Five of Seven planned. Writing experiment testing different PoVs telling the same story. Each part is a different PoV with more of the story is revealed as you go along. ... Perhaps I should call this the Experiment of the Perpetual Cliff-hanger?

I was going to save this chapter until later, but Honoka / Shikako is still being difficult to write and this chapter is done so... Here you go. :)

P.s. Next chapter will be Honoka and (hopefully) tie everything up. It will either be an extra long chapter, or two chapters with half Honoka's PoV each. It keeps _growing_ you see.

-/-

Shikamaru knows. He knows before the newest version of Team 7 is almost carried in through the gate, missing their sensei. He knows before his father is called to a meeting with the Hokage. He knows before his mother breaks down in the kitchen when he walks in through the door.

 _Shikamaru knows_.

Because the indistinct feeling that he only realises now was his twin is gone. Shikako, and whatever vague tie they share, is gone, broken, lost. He doesn't want to understand what it means at first, not until all of the above happen. And so he doesn't. But on some level? He knows.

Shikako is dead.

And he... He has lost his twin.

-/-

He doesn't quite remember what he says to get on the mission to try and retrieve her body. Not that that is the mission aim of course - the primary aim of the mission is to locate the so called 'missing nin' that dared enter Hi No Kuni and show them why that was a bad idea. The primary mission is to hunt down whoever thought it was a good and reasonable idea to target one of their genin teams and eliminate them with extreme prejudice. But for those going - Kakashi, Sasuke, himself, Sakura, Ino, Sai and Naruto? The aim was to destroy those who had taken someone so precious from them and find out what happened to her - how was it the Shikabane-hime had been brought low? The aim was revenge, and the retrieval of what is left of their precious comrade - his twin.

It's overkill sending them all, more than overkill, but... Tsuande doesn't deny them. She understands.

-/-

The cold flames of fury that had kept him going, that had pushed him on on on after those stupid fucking cowards, were gone. All that was left in their place were heavy coals in the pit of his stomach, and a smothering of ash suffocating his spirit. They'd found them, every last one. Ino had made sure they had got them all, and Sakura had ensured that the two they were taking back to Konoha were perfectly stable if never able to serve as shinobi again.

Ino was standing by his side.

Shikamaru let himself lean against her, his eyes not moving from the swirl-patterned patch of burnt ashes where his sister's last stand had been. The ashes spiralled out in a perfect mimic of the Uzumaki symbol. Naruto had let out a choked sob when he'd seen it. Shikamaru hadn't asked what that had been about, he'd find out later in the debriefing. Kakashi and Sasuke had recognised it too - the look they'd exchanged was telling.

Not that it mattered.

Shikako was dead.

And there would be no body to bring home.

No hope either.

-/-

He doesn't come here more than thrice a year. The anniversary of their graduation, her birthday, and the day she died. Each time he does, he brings a stick of incense and sits in front of the stone with his legs crossed, just... thinking. He doesn't need a stone to talk to his sister. (He does it often enough - in his head, silently.) The stone is just so that people leave him alone to think, while letting him be found if need be. Far less troublesome than hiding himself in the Nara forests or anywhere else so that he can find time to grieve in peace.

It has been seven years since his twin was lost.

Dead, like so many others he'd known.

Her death was different though. She had been destroyed completely in some manner the Uzuamki invented to ensure that nothing - not even Edo tensai - could bring them back and use them against their loved ones.

He was certain that he was imagining it when he heard the sounds of music at the edge of his senses.

-/-

He hadn't imagined it. The music had not gone away, in fact, it had become a constant annoyance, just out of reach of his senses. Neither Ino or Sakura, nor any of the Nara or Yamanaka clan medical specialists could find anything but... He wasn't going crazy. Ino at least was certain of that. Which didn't leave many more options. There was still seeking out Tsunade and throwing himself on her mercy but...

Then there was a sudden spike in the sound. No, not spike. He could hear it clearly now.

Eyes narrowed, he followed it. Chouji had been with him at the time and trailed after him discretely, looking worried. He had no reason to be. Shikamaru wasn't going to follow it out of the village, or into some isolated alleyway for an ambush. He wasn't going to follow it into any mysterious underground or hidden tunnels either, though Konoha had enough of them. He just... wanted to see how far he could follow it.

Apparently it led to his little sister.

The girl was chattering cheerfully with her teammate's - the two boys making the most noise and wild movements as was proper for any team with a Nara in it. Shikamaru carefully didn't frown as he fell into step and listened to her recite the details of her mission. It was a simple courier mission from the sounds of it - their third C-rank and simple enough. Not like any of hers had been.

"And then Kako-nee's stone started humming quietly and I woke up and there was a fox trying to steal our supplies! Keiso-kun hadn't even noticed! But I scared it away and-"

"The stone?"

Shikamaru remembered the stone. He hated it and was typically happy that his little sister kept it tucked beneath her t-shirt. His sister's so called lucky charm. The charm she didn't have with her that mission long ago. The charm she had left with her little sister as both a good luck wish and an apology for missing her first day of shinobi academy. He had never understood either of his sisters' fascination with it, nor believed Kako's claims that it was the remnants of a failed experiment. No, Kako had never done anything with it. It was still the same stone that Tsunade had dug out of her all those years ago.

"Yeah! It was really weird! But we were heading home and no one else could hear anything and Sensei didn't think it was causing any problems..."

Shikamaru sighed. "Troublesome. Let me see."

Pouting at him, she took the charm and handed it over. To Shikamaru it was like the world took a deep breath the moment his fingers closed around it - a deep breath followed by a thrumming sound that rattled his bones and quite literally brought him to his knees. To the rest of the world, he collapsed forward, staring at the finger sized stone in shock.

"Shikamaru!"

There was shouting and worry around him, but it didn't matter. It didn't matter because behind it all, and through the sudden crackling of flames in his ears, he could...

He could feel Shikako again.

-/-

It took him a while to turn his focus to the outside world again. He was too focused on the feel of his sister, the crackling of flames and the steady hum that still throbbed through his bones. He had to be certain. He had to be certain that whatever Kako had done to survive, to come back to him, that it was real.

He wasn't stupid.

There was very very little he wouldn't do if he thought there was a way to get his twin back. He'd half contemplated using edo tensai once, but he wasn't sure Shikako would have ever forgiven him for that. She wouldn't have been happy - they'd clashed too many times on what she could and couldn't do. He still believed he had been in the right - look at that mission! - but he understood she disagreed. It was infuriating, but he wanted his sister back, not a slave.

"Shikamaru."

He blinked, looking up to see Chouji looking down at him. Around them, he could see other shinobi watching cautiously with the civilians vanished - no doubt shuffled off out of potential danger range. His sister and her team was gone... And there was a team of ANBU on the rooftops nearby too - half either side. He sighed. Well that told him something about how bad it had looked.

"I'm alright Chouji."

He scowled at the sky, the back of his mind running over the many many ways that this could mean his sister was back - he didn't particularly like any of them. If it was his sister's doing, she'd have come back earlier. So it wasn't. It was something else. And of course the bloody stone would have reacted...

He sighed, an edge to it that hadn't been there in ooh... nearly 8 years? "We need to talk to the Hokage."

Chouji hesitated, before nodding and heading off at a slow pace along the street. Shikamaru huffed but didn't comment on the need to move quicker. The civilians were still missing, the other shinobi were still focusing on them even if they had resumed their normal tasks, and the ANBU team was still shadowing his steps.

He didn't let go of the stone in his hand, his fist not relaxing for a second.


End file.
